A 15-year-old boy has been stabbed and slashed with machetes after a huge brawl between rival Asian gangs broke out in one of Melbourne’s least-Australian suburbs.
The violence erupted in Springvale, a suburb in the city’s south-east where just 6.5% of the population have Australian ancestry, at about 8.20pm on Sunday night after an event called Snowfest.
Mobile phone footage shared on social media shows a fight breaking out between dozens of teenage males, mainly of Asian appearance, on Springvale road.
A separate video seen by Noticer News shows a smaller group of thugs chase down a 15-year-old boy before stabbing and slashing him with machetes and kicking him as he lay on the ground, leaving him bleeding from deep cuts to his arms and shoulders.
A third clip shows shocked bystanders telling the boy to “sit upright” until emergency services arrive.
The 15-year-old was taken to Royal Children’s Hospital were he was treated for upper and lower body injuries, 7 News reported.
The same group of teens were also filmed attacking a shopping centre security guard in a separate incident earlier in the afternoon. He was taken to hospital with minor injuries.
Victoria Police said Dandenong Crime Investigation Unit detectives were “continuing to establish the exact circumstances of the incidents and are investigating whether they are linked”.
No arrests have been made.
According to the 2021 Census, just 28.9% of Springvale’s population were born in Australia, and only 6.5% gave their ancestry as Australian.
88.5% had both parents born overseas, 18.7% used only English at home, while 23.1% were of Vietnamese ancestry, 22% were Chinese, and 6.1% were Khmer.
